The new spaceship can land with the precision of a helicopter anywhere in the world, says CEO and chief designer Elon Musk.

Last night, with the SpaceX factory in Hawthorne, Calif. as a backdrop, SpaceX CEO and chief designer Elon Musk raised the curtain on the Dragon Version 2. "We wanted to take a big step in technology, really create something that was a step change in spacecraft technology," Musk said.

The spaceship bears only a superficial resemblance to the unmanned Dragon Version 1 that has been ferrying supplies to the International Space Station since 2012. The Dragon V2 is SpaceX's entry in its competition with Sierra Nevada Corporation and Boeing for NASA contracts to develop crew transportation for the space station. Lately NASA's relationship Russia, which currently flies astronauts to the ISS has been under stress amid tensions over Russia's invasion of the Ukraine and subsequent US sanctions. This makes the development of native US spaceships all the more important.

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The new ship is taller than the original to accommodate eight rocket engines arranged in pairs around the ship's outer walls, four landing legs, and a nosecone that flips opens to expose a docking port. It is designed to support up to seven astronauts for several days, Musk said.

"The Dragon Version 2 is capable of autonomously docking with the International Space Station—potentially other things—without needing the station arm," he said. Dragon Version 1 merely reaches the vicinity of the station, where there robotic Canadarm grabs the spacecraft and maneuvers it to a berthing port.

At the end of an ISS visit, the Dragon Version 2 will back away from the station and the nosecone will close to protect the docking port for reentry. The ship will control its reentry with the rocket engines. Each thruster, called the SuperDraco, produces 16,000 pounds of thrust, Musk said, and each one is enclosed in a protective nacelle to protect the thrusters as well as the ship itself from damage in the event of a problem. Only one thruster in each pair is needed for a safe, rocket-powered landing.

"That is how a 21st century spaceship should land," said Musk. "The reason that this is really important, apart from the convenience of the landing location, is that it enables rapid reusability of the spacecraft. You can just reload propellant and fly again."

During a descent, the thrusters will fire briefly to test their operational status a few miles up before extending the landing legs and touching down with helicopter-precision just about anywhere in the world, Musk said. If the flight computer detects a problem with the thrusters during the test-firing, it can deploy parachutes as an emergency backup. The Dragon Version 1, by contrast, always lands with parachutes.

The interior of the new craft, Musk said, was designed to be "very clean, very simple." During his presentation, Musk summoned a ladder from a pair of helpers, opened the hatch, and stepped inside. Cameras allowed spectators to see him climb into one of the command chairs in the top row of seats. The crew compartment looks like a cross between a set from the latest Star Trek movie, with large touch-screen displays that can be swung in and out of place by the pilots, and the interior of a luxury car, with what appeared to be leather seats along with lap and shoulder belts. Musk is also the CEO of Tesla Motors, after all, and seems to be bringing an automotive style sensibility to the manufacturing of spaceships and rockets.

But for SpaceX, advances in manufacturing are just as important as good design. The company is betting big on digital manufacturing as a way to lower costs and increase production rates to meet the demand it anticipates will come with more affordable space access. The SuperDraco thrusters, which have been undergoing test firings on the ground, are entirely 3D printed, Musk said, and will be the first such rocket engines to be used in flight.

The Dragon Version 2 could make an unmanned test flight as early as the end of 2015 and fly with a crew as soon as the middle of 2016.

Michael Belfiore is the author of Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots Is Boldly Privatizing Space and a frequent contributor to Popular Mechanics.